FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A former employee of a Fairfield business was charged Monday in connection with the embezzlement of approximately $41,000 from the company over nearly two years, according to police reports.

Gwendolyn Varhalak, 47, of Stratford was fired from Britt Air, a Southport heating and cooling business, in July. After her firing the new secretary noticed checks written out to Varhalak and to cash that were not properly accounted for, police said.

Varhalak wrote $41,000 worth of checks to herself and to cash between September 2010 and July 2012, according to police reports. For each check she would create a false payment to a vendor in the company’s accounting system to disguise the thefts, police said.

Varhalak was convicted of a similar crime in 2009, according to state judicial records. In that case she took approximately $44,000 from a Bridgeport business through the same method, police said.

Varhalak was charged with first-degree larceny and second-degree forgery, both felonies. She was held on a $100,000 bond, and is due in court on Oct. 15.